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David A. Goodman
David A. Goodman is an executive producer and writer for The Orville, ''writing the episodes ''Krill, ''Deflectors'', and ''The Road Not Taken''. Goodman also wrote the comic books ''New Beginnings'' and ''The Word of Avis'' in Season 1.5. Goodman and executive producer Brannon Braga were involved with The Orville from its earliest stages, providing an ear for MacFarlane to discuss ideas for a new science fiction television series. After Fox bought The Orville for a 13-episode first season, MacFarlane turned to Goodman for help writing About a Girl. When the third script was completed, MacFarlane hired Goodman as executive producer. Additionally, Goodman is President of the Writers Guild of America West.Kilday, Gregg. "WGA West Elects David A. Goodman President". Hollywood Reporter. Sept. 18, 2017. Background Goodman is a graduate of the University of Chicago, where he earned a BA in 1984. He began his career with the show Futurama, then in its fourth season, and wrote the episode "Where No Fan Has Gone Before." Goodman mentioned in the commentary for the episode that his script got him a job with Star Trek: Enterprise. Goodman is a self-described "huge fan" of the science-fiction series, and strove to make as many references to Star Trek as possible. Prior to The Orville, Goodman worked extensively with the show's creator Seth MacFarlane: first as a writer and consulting producer for Enterprise, where MacFarlane played the character Rivers in the episodes "The Forgotten" and "Affliction;" and later, as co-executive producer for Family Guy and executive producer for American Dad!, both MacFarlane projects. The Orville Prior to development, MacFarlane became interested in an episodic science fiction television series much like Star Trek.Caron, Nathalie. "CHAD L. COLEMAN JOINS SETH MACFARLANE'S SPACE-SET COMEDY SERIES ORVILLE". SyFy Wire. April 3, 2017. In fact, since 2000, MacFarlane spoke off-and-on with Goodman and Braga, a producer on the Star Trek'' shows The Next Generation and ''Voyager, about creating a new show that reproduced the "Trek" style of storytelling and progressive philosophy. In March 2016, MacFarlane told Goodman that he was "toying" with an idea for a new show. Goodman was excited.Bond, Jeff. The World of the Orville. Titan Books. 2018. Pg. 8. MacFarlane began working on an initial script and by April, Fox had picked up his idea as "The Orville" for 13 episodes. MacFarlane quickly wrote a second script (probably Command Performance or If the Stars Should Appear) and Goodman helped him develop ideas for a third episode that became About a Girl. After completing About a Girl's script, he quickly enlisted Braga and Goodman as executive producers and writers, and assembled a writing staff that Goodman later described as a team of "half comedy writers and half drama writers." Goodman described his writing process as starting an episode's story from its dramatic elements, and only after peppering the script with humor.David A. Goodman at "Seth MacFarlane and behind-the-scenes creative team: "The Orville" | Talks at Google". Talks at Google. Nov. 16, 2017. Though general audiences loved The Orville, professional critics mostly panned the show. Goodman was deeply upset. He believed critics gave negative reviews because they did not like MacFarlane, whom they take to be immature. "Critics are often so unfair to Seth and I don’t know why," Goodman later recalled. "I think he is a fucking genius, having worked with him now for 18 years. He is trying to do something new and ... critics couldn’t even find it in their stone-cold hearts and open up and say 'You know what, the guy is trying something new. I will be interested to see what he does with it.'"Pascale, Anthony. "Interview: David A. Goodman On ‘The Orville’ As Sci-Fi Gateway And How ‘Futurama’ Landed ‘Enterprise’ Job". TrekMovie.com. Oct. 23, 2017. Writing Krill One of Goodman's first contributions was to develop MacFarlane's concept of the Krill into an enemy species motivated by a brutal god. Goodman and MacFarlane had long discussed the idea of an alien race that regarded all other species as non-sentient and valueless during their conversations developing the show. The idea was a powerful space empire that believed that if you are not in their bible ''[[Anhkana]], you don’t exist. That was something we all worked together in the writer’s room. We knew who the Krill were going to be before this episode. That was something we decided with Seth early on before even the pilot script, but there was no way to get it across before that episode.Pascale, Anthony. "Interview: David A. Goodman On ‘The Orville’ As Sci-Fi Gateway And How ‘Futurama’ Landed ‘Enterprise’ Job". ''TrekMovie.com. Oct. 23, 2017. The idea was tabled until the sixth episode, which MacFarlane gave to Goodman to write. Goodman sought to craft the Krill as religious fanatics as an allegory for dangerous religious extremism in our world.Pascale, Anthony. "Interview: David A. Goodman On ‘The Orville’ As Sci-Fi Gateway And How ‘Futurama’ Landed ‘Enterprise’ Job". TrekMovie.com. Oct. 23, 2017. When asked about whether the show was finding a balance between dramatic storytelling and comedy, Goodman remarked that shows often take time to find their footing, and The Orville is no exception. "Next Generation took two years, in fact all the Star Trek shows took a while to figure out who they were. For me Deep Space Nine didn’t get good until season four and Voyager as well. All these kinds of shows take a little time to find themselves. If you are saying we are finding it on episode six, I’ll take it."Pascale, Anthony. "Interview: David A. Goodman On ‘The Orville’ As Sci-Fi Gateway And How ‘Futurama’ Landed ‘Enterprise’ Job". TrekMovie.com. Oct. 23, 2017. The Orville comic books Goodman wrote the scripts for Season 1.5 of The Orville, a collection of comic books packaged as two "episodes" of two issues each, with artists David Cabeza and Michael Atiyeh. In an interview in late April 2019, Goodman recalled that he was still "learning the ropes" when he wrote the scripts and adjusting to the different storytelling pace. He said the most fun part about writing was the chance to see Cabeza bring his script "to life."Spry, Jeff. "EXCLUSIVE: THE ORVILLE'S DAVID GOODMAN ROCKETS INTO DARK HORSE COMICS' TIE-IN SERIES". SyFy Wire. April 28, 2019 Trivia * Goodman is known as the sole writer who will make on-set adjustments to the script."NYCC 2017: Adrianne Palicki & Scott Grimes - The Orville". WithAnAccentTV. Oct. 13, 2017. * He performs voices for to-be-cast characters during table reads, such as Lieutenant Yaphit."PLANETARY UNION NETWORK: EPISODE 26". Planetary Union Network. Jan. 13, 2019. When he performed at a table reading of ''Home'', fans mistakenly assumed Goodman would appear as a character on camera.Photos compiled by @StJerome. "Hey folks #TheOrville Season 2 tidbits. @jleefilm posted an IGStory with a few pics. Looks like @DavidAGoodman has quotes on his placard. Maybe he's stepping in front of the Cameras? Also a new Alien photo. Last it looks like @cherrycheva is the writer for Ep 202 titled "Home"". Twitter. March 7, 2018. * His favorite episode is ''The Road Not Taken''.Sun - Main Stage | NYCC 2019 | SYFY WIRE. SyFy Wire. Oct. 6, 2019. External links * Interview with TrekMovie.com * Interview with Hollywood Reporter * Interview with the Planetary Union Network * Interview with Freak Sugar See also * "Writing the Orville:" Foreword by Goodman in The World of the Orville, page 8 * The World of the Orville, pages 12, 21, 38, 56, 72, 79, 87, 141 References Category:Writers Category:Producers Category:Authors